Mold for casting metals



Dec. 23,' 1930; w. F. EPPENSTEINER MOLD FOR CASTING METALS Filed Marone. 1929 INVENTOR ng a i Al@ By Attorneys,

Ehnfmnnnnuuuuu IIIIIQIIYIIIIIIIIIIIIIII nhnnllnunl Patented Dec. 2 3,1930 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcr;

WILLIAM F. EPPENSTEINER, OF RAHWAY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB, BY MESNEASSIGN- MENTS, TO THE AMERICAN METAL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ACORPOBA- 'rIoN or NEW Yom:

MOLD FOR CASTING METALS Application ma umh s, 1929. smal No. 344,672.

This invention relates to verticalmolds for casting copper or other.metals to form cakes, billets, or other shapes.

The invention will be described with par- 5 ticular reference to thecasting of cop er, al-

though applicable to the casting o other metals havmg propertiessubstantially similar to those of cop er. Y

In the casting o copper it is desirable to l use integral or one-piecemolds in preference to split or divided molds. It is also desirable tocast elongated shapes such as cakes, from which' to roll sheets, andingots which usually are of elongated cylindrical form, by

'.5 vertical casting, so that the imperfections in the cast metal due tooxidation shall be confined to one end of the casting and thereby be ofthe minimum area. This is accomplished by casting in `a vertical moldthe top of which has an area much less than the area of either sideincluding the entire longitudinal l dimension of the casting. Forcasting copper in such vertical integral molds it has heretofore beencustomary to give the mold a very l considerable taper so as tofacilitate the dumping of the copper casting from the mold. Thisinvolves certain disadvantaves, especially for the production of flat caes which are to be rolled down to form sheets or strips, as difficultyis encountered if these cakes have a decided tape;` so that one end ofthe cake has materially greater dimensions than the other. The necessityfor this taper is avoided by water-jacketing the mold and l performingthe casting under the conditions stated in an a plication ofEppensteiner and Green, filed ebruary 13, 1928, Serial No. 253,825. Inthe practice of that process ditliculty has been experienced in thevconstruc- .0 tion of suitable molds. Various constructions of built-upmolds have been tried, the elements of which have been united by Weldingor otherwise, but these molds have been found liable to give out atthe'joints, even '-5 where such joints have been electrically Welded. Amold in which the shell enclosing the casting cavity is forged in o nep1ece, and to which a forged exterlor ]acket is united by Welding, islikewise objectlonable, 0 because of the early giving out of the weldedjoints. The difficulty with all the attempts that have been made is thatthe mold cost per unit casting is excessive, due either to the originalhigh cost of the molds or to their short life, or both.

The present invention aims to overcome these diiculties, and hasresulted in the production of a mold of moderate tirst cost and of suchduration under repeated use in casting as to reduce the mold cost percasting unit to Within a commercial figure, so that the casting of cakesaccording to the Eppensteiner and Green method above referred to hasbeen rendered commercially practicable.

According to the present invention the mold is made of a single integralmass of suitable metal, having the requisite properties to resist theeffects of the temperatures encountered in casting any particular metalfor which the mold is to be used. In the casting of copper it has beenfound that the mold may be advanta eously formed from a copper block orbil et, although a billet or unitary block of mild steel has been foundto give satisfactory results. The mold cavity extends through from endto end and is formed either by drilling out the solid billet, or may beformed in the forging or other production of the billet. The walls ofthe mold thus formed are suiliciently thick to provide for the necessarywater jacket. This jacket is formed by drilling longitudinally throughthe walls of the mold, the successive holes thus drilled serving asWater passages and being united by transverse passages near oppositeends of the mold, so that by admitting Water to the passages at one endit flows in parallel courses through the drilled holes, being collectedand discharged from the other end. The open ends of the drilled holesare, of course, suitably plugged. A bottom cover is applied to close theopen lower end of the mold cavity, and suitably fastened. In this Way aWeldless mold is formed with an integral Water jacket which provides foreffective cooling of the mold. Such molds have been proven by experienceto have relatively low initial cost and a total life greatly exceed-`Btu ing that of any molds used for this purpose heretofore.

In the accompanying drawings are shown molds for casting cakes andingots.

Figures 1 to 4 show a mold for making cakes or parallel-sided castings.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation partly broken away in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly broken away.

Fig. 3 is a plan partly in horizontal section in two different planes. i

Fig. 4 is a plan of the block or billet from which the mold is made,showing certain of the operations.

Referring to the drawings, a solid billet A (Fig. 4) may, for example,be forged from open hearth mild steel having not over .25 per cent.carbon. The cavity to be formed, lettered B in Figs. 1 to 3, is shown bydotted lines a, a. The internal face of this cavity may then be machinedto render it suitably smooth by means of any convenientlyapplied cuttingtool, such as a shaper. Also, the top and bottom faces of the billet maybe advantageously planed off smooth.

To form the water jacket, the wall of the billet is drilled withnumerous vertical bores or holes c, c (Fig. 3) which may be as closetogether as is convenient. These may be drilled through from the top andstopped short of the bottom, as indicated in Fig. 1; or they may bedrilled entirely through if the open bottoms are .thereafter closed byinserting suitable plu s. The open tops of the holes are closed y meansof plugs Z which may be of steel and screwed into tapped holes, or maybe made a driving fit, and in any case are desirably welded on theexterior. The top and bottom ends of the vertical passages thus formedare united by means of horizontal passages which may be drilled throughfrom the outer faces, those on the bottom being lettered e, e', andthose on the top f, f. These also may stop short of the opposite face ofthe billet so as to be closed at one end, the other end from which thedrill enters being afterward closed by lugs g, g, fastened in the samemanner as the plugs d. A water inlet C and a water outlet D are appliedin convenient locations, preferably at the bottom and top of the mold,and on opposite sides, as shown. These 1nlets and outlets are formed bydrilling holes to communicate with the respective bores e, f', andapplying bosses or nipples which may be tapped into the holes, and aread vantageously also welded to the sides of the mold.

With this construction of water jacket the water entering at the inlet Cflows around through the horizontal passages e', e, traversing al1 foursides of the mold; the Water then ascends through the vertical bores c,c,

to the top of the mold, and the streams reunite in the upper horizontalpassages f, f', and flow out from the latter through the outlet D. Thewalls constituting the mold are thus very effectively cooled by thenumerous parallel streams of water ascending through these closelydrilled passages.

The bottom of the mold is closed during casting by a bottom cover Ewhich is best constructed as a drop bottom by suitably hinging it to thelower part of the mold, so that when released it will fall out of theway, so as to permit the free discharge of the casting. For this purposeit may be hinged or pivoted on a rod h at one side of the mold, whichmay be hung in brackets i suitably fastened to the side of the mold, asshown in Fig. 2. The most convenient way-of holding the bottom closedduring casting is to confine it by a swinging bail F hung upon trunnionsG, G, projecting from the mold.v

The bottom E is conveniently formed with hinge ears engaging the hingerod L, and with ribs 7c, these latter having eccentric underfaces whichmay be wedgingly engaged by the bail F. Vhen the bottom is closed, thebail swings under it by gravity, and a slight tap will cause it to wedgethe bottom up tightly in place against the bottom of the mold; whenafter casting the metal has solidified, the bail is easily driven backby a light blow, whereupon the bottom opens by gravity, so that thebottom and bail occupy approximately the positions shown in dotted linesin Fig.` 2. The trunnions G, G may conveniently be screwed into tappedholes in the sides of the mold and welded in place.

The mold is preferably made with a parallel-sided cavity B, so as tocast a cake which has no taper. The water cooling of the mold so chillsthe casting that it shrinks suficientl to drop out freely upon theopening of the ottom.

Molds thus constructed have been demonstrated to outlast the bestconstruction of previously-made molds fully ten times; their cost perunit casting is less than one-fifth that of the best previous molds.

For copper casting the mold may advantageously be made of copper insteadof steel, it being perfectly feasible to cast copper in a water-cooledcopper mold. To make a mold of copper according to the present inventionit is cast in the form of a billet, either solid, as is shown in Fig.4,01*- by using a metal core to displace the metal occupying the moldcavity B, it may be cast as an open frame. In either case the metal iscontinuous, so that all welding and joints are avoided. The innersurface of the mold cavity could be smoothed by machining, as beforedescribed, and the water-jacketing holes c, c, are drilled, as also thehorizontal holes e, e', f, f; and all these holes are plugged by tappingand putting in tight-litt-ing` screw plugs. The water inlet and outletnipples or couplings C, D, are applied in the same manner alreadydescribed, except that with copper there is no welding. Or the bossesfor these couplings may be formed integrally as a art of the original Icasting. The trunnions G, may be applied as already described, or becast on.

The copper mold thus formed is very e. fectively cooled and willconsiderably outlast copper molds as heretofore made. One of itsadvantages over the steel mold is that when no ,longer usable as a mold,its metal may be utilized by melting down.

The present invention is also applicable to the construction of moldsfor casting other shapes of copper and for making castings of othermetals or alloys having more or less the same properties as copper. Forcasting cylindrical shapes the construction requires to be somewhatmodified, and a mold for that 2o purpose is claimed by me specificallyin another application to be filed approximately concurrently herewith.

I claim as my invention 1. AAn integral weldless mold comprising solidwalls enclosing a parallel casting cavity open at both ends, and havingparallel passages through such walls, and with a water inlet and outletcommunicating with said passages, whereby cooling water may becirculated through such passages to cool the mold. y 2. An integralweldless mold comprising solid walls enclosing a parallel casting cavity open at both ends, and having parallel passages through such walls,and transverse connecting passages uniting them at top and bottom, witha water inlet and outlet to such connecting passages respectively,whereby the cooling water circulates in parallel streams from end to endof the mold.

3. An integral weldless mold comprising solid walls enclosing a parallelcasting cavity of rectangular cross-section open at both ends, andhaving parallel passages through such walls, and transverse passagesthrough such walls near the opposite ends of the molds,

uniting the parallel passages and communieating with each other to formpassages for conducting water to and from said parallel passages, andwith water inlets and outlets communicating with said end passagesrespectively.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

WILLIAM F. EPPENSTEINER.

CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTION.

Patent No. 1,785,941. Granted December 23, 1930, to

WILLIAM F. EPPENSTEINER.

It is hereby certified that the assignee in the above numbered patentwas erroneously described and specified as "The American Metal Company",whereas said assignee should have been described and specified as TheAmerican Metal Company (Limited), as assignee by mesne assignments ofthe entire interest in said invention, as shown by the records 0fassignments in the office; and that the said Letters Patent should beread with this correction therein that the same may conform to therecord of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 20th day of January, A. D. 1931.

M. J. Moore, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

